Saint-Andre reshuffles as French ready for ‘physical’ Canada test

It may be that France are unpredictable in most things, but there were few surprises yesterday when coach Philippe Saint-Andre made 12 changes to his side for tomorrow’s Pool D tie against Canada at Milton Keynes.

The XV chosen includes 11 of those who started the tournament against Italy, and only three who started against Romania, and that number would be even greater had Yoann Huget not succumbed to injury that night and flown home and Wesley Fofana been fit to start.

This may not be France’s first-choice XV, but it is pretty damn close to it, and they will have 10 days to recover from their exertions against the North Americans before squaring up against Ireland in what should be the group decider in Cardiff on Sunday week.